Turning 20 and damn do I look bad..

[Garawr]

Hey folks. I've been surfing this forum for a while, never posted. I've learned a lot by reading just about everything that passes through here, heh..

So let me start by saying that I'm 19. I'm turning 20 in October and I'm looking back and realizing that I look like shit. I'm 5'8" and 225 pounds. I'm a stocky guy with really broad shoulders, so I carry it better than some. The fact is, however, that I'm out of shape and hating it.

I've been going to the gym semi-regularly and been doing mainly cardio style routines. To be frank, it could be better.

So I've looked through the stickies and the like, and was wondering what sort of routine would be good for me. I looked at the novice barbell training and I think that may be a good place to start, but I'm not very experienced in all of this and could use some advice.

I also know that diet plays an important role. That, at least, I've gotten down to a certain degree. I eat literally no junk/fast food anymore. I'm on a diet set by my nutritionist for losing a bit of weight. This also helps because I have psoriasis, and what food I ate was making it worse. Now that my psoriasis has cleared, I have no desire to go back to the crap foods that were making it worse and making me fatter.

My main goal is to lose a lot of this excess body weight and turn it back into muscle. When I was younger, I used to do gymnastics a lot, and it was great. I want to get back into that sort of thing. I want to look and feel good... I don't necessarily want to be a huge muscle guy, heh.

So... any advice for a kid that doesn't want to get past the point of no return in regards to my weight? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[enigma4dub]

glad to hear you looked in the vault. start with the beginning program an ride it out for a few months. start a journal and we will give you feedback. stay in the vault, go to madcows site read everything! sounds like you've got the diet in check. lots of protein, healthy fats, low glycemic carbs, veggies and h20. any questions ask away.

 

[SaiBoT]

glad to hear you looked in the vault. start with the beginning program an ride it out for a few months. start a journal and we will give you feedback. stay in the vault, go to madcows site read everything! sounds like you've got the diet in check. lots of protein, healthy fats, low glycemic carbs, veggies and h20. any questions ask away.

Good post right there ^ ^ ^ Stay cool, don't loose your focus and be patient.

 

[fortunatesun]

Lifting weights is more effective than cardio for burning fat for most people. As already said, the best place to start is at the beginning. Like any training program, you can't jump in at the middle and expect success. A beginner's program isn't about becoming a muscle guy or even the strongest man in the gym. It's about acquiring the mental and physical habits you need in order to become a success wherever your iron life leads you.

Talk to your nutritionist about carb cycling. This will allow you to gradually change your body composition instead of having to go through the greater stress of dieting way down and then having to build back up. You will arrive at your desired goal sooner.

 

[desmond]

So you need to do two things: create a

(1) DIET PLAN; and

(2) EXERCISE PLAN

DIET PLAN: steps

(1) Determine your maintenance level of calories - i.e., the amount of calories u burn to maintain weight. There are calculators to do this, your problem however, is that your bodyfat is above average (and therefore the Harris Benedict equation will inflate ur "maintenance" calorie figure). You could use the Katch-McArble if you know your level of body fat, which is unlikely. My advice is to use the Harris Benedict equation based on the bodyweight you think you should be at "average" levels of body fat. I.e., what weight u'd be if you had a flat, but not ripped, stomach.

To use these equations, you need to detemrine your BMR, and multiply it by an activity factor. See generally: Harris Benedict Equation

(2) Consume 500-1000 calories less than this.

(3) Organize a diet plan that achieves the desired calorie intake, but also does the following:
- has more than 20% of your calories as fat;
- more than 30% (although 40+ could be better) of your calories as protein;
- less than 50% of your calories as carbs.

Cron-o-meter or fitday could help in this.

(4) Divide your calories to 4-6 meals, with a similar amount of protein in each meal. Carbs and Fat can vary, with Carbs being best pre/post workout, breakfast etc.

(5) (and my personal opinion) Don't do keto. Ur 19. This shouldn't be too hard to lose weight. Also, I don't feel there is a need to drastically lower carbs (35-45% is fine) initially. Doesn't sound like ur trying to hit the stage, and leave lowering carbs drastically as a reserve plataue buster strategy.

EXERCISE PLAN

(1) Cardio 3+ times per week. It's not essential but does help from experience.

(2) A weights programme that relies on compound exercies, which will do more to boost your BMR. I'm going to say something that may be unpopular. The exercises in rippetoes are good, however, the "ramped sets" it recommends, plus the fact that you have heavy, medium, and light days, is perhaps not best for someone starting weights and trying to lose weight IMO (it is obviously good for someone trying to increase strength however). Ramped sets means ur really only trying for one set. I'm guessing u'd burn more cals actually going balls to the walls on most sets (pyramid rep scheme)

 

[Garawr]

Thank you all very much for the advice! I think that in turn to taking everyone's advice, I'm going to check out a body building course that my school offers this coming semester. If anything it ought to help me out in proper ways to do things, as well as keeping me motivated! I'll keep you all updated, thanks agian. =]

 

[keasbey]

i think that going to the class will help with learning the lifts and getting used to the gym. maybe even find a lifting partner to spot/motivate you, but dont be sure to goto the gym atleast 3 times a week. so if the class is once a week fill in the other days

 

[rnch]

"this thread is useless without pics"

 

[mus1cjunk1e]

There. Fixed it for ya

 

[Big_BK]

I would do a weight and cardio routine bro. 30mins every morning of cardio then maybe 3-4 days a week in the gym. You want to be doing a high intensity program though, very high reps and little rest between sets so you can keep you heart rate up in the fat burning zone.